A lost passport is a document problem as well as a search problem. Contact your own embassy or consulate and ask what replacement document it can issue for your journey. A police report may support the process, but it does not replace a passport. Before accepting a new flight plan, check the document requirements for the airline, transit point and next country.
Last reviewed: September 16, 2026. Passport replacement rules, fees, processing times and required documents depend on your nationality and circumstances. Treat this as a practical action plan, then follow the current instructions from your embassy, Korean police, Korea Immigration Service and airline.
Quick answer: what to do first
- Search the last controlled places immediately: hotel safe, reception, taxi, station office, restaurant and airport lost-and-found desk.
- Protect against misuse: if theft is possible or the passport is not quickly recovered, go to a police station and request a written loss or theft report.
- Contact your own embassy or consulate in Korea: ask whether you need an emergency passport, temporary travel document or full replacement.
- Call Korea Immigration Contact Center at 1345: confirm whether proof of entry or another immigration document is required for your departure.
- Contact the airline before changing plans: a temporary document may affect check-in, transit, visas and entry to the next country.
- Do not attempt to use a passport after reporting it lost: ask the issuing authority what to do if it is later found.
Table of Contents
- The first hour: search without losing time
- How to get a Korean police report
- How to use LOST112
- Contacting your embassy or consulate
- Documents to prepare
- Korean immigration and proof of entry
- Flights, transit and visas
- If you are outside Seoul
- Nights, weekends and holidays
- If your wallet or phone disappeared too
- Useful Korean phrases
- Mistakes that cause longer delays
- Save-this checklist
The first hour: search without losing time
Do one fast, organized search before assuming the passport is gone permanently. Check every zipped compartment, the lining of your bag, yesterday’s clothes, the hotel safe and the space around the bed. Ask reception whether housekeeping found a document. Review phone photos, card transactions and map history to rebuild your route.
Then contact places where staff control lost property:
- Hotel or guesthouse reception
- Airport, railway station or bus-terminal information desk
- Taxi operator or app support, using the ride record
- Restaurant, café, shop or attraction ticket desk
- Subway station office nearest the exit you used
Set a time limit. If your departure is close, theft is suspected, or the search produces nothing, start the formal process. Waiting a full day for a possible callback can leave too little time for police, embassy and airline steps.
If the passport was left in a taxi, use the receipt, vehicle number or app history and follow our Korea taxi guide. Do not publish a photo of the passport data page on social media while asking for help.
How to get a Korean police report
Korea’s National Police Agency advises travelers who lose a passport overseas to obtain a police report and take it to the relevant diplomatic mission. Visit a nearby police station or police box and explain whether the passport was lost or stolen. For an active crime or immediate danger, call 112.
Bring any identification you still have, a passport copy or photo, and a written timeline. Show the Korean address of the place where you think it disappeared. Ask for a printed document that your embassy and insurer can use, and check that your romanized name, date, location and document description are correct before leaving.
Useful details to provide:
- Full name and nationality
- Passport number, issue date and expiry date if known
- Approximate time and exact location of loss
- Whether a bag, wallet, phone or cards were also taken
- Your Korean accommodation and reachable phone number
- Your flight date and destination
A police report documents the incident; it does not replace a passport and does not guarantee that an airline will let you board.
How to use Korea’s LOST112 system
LOST112 is the Korean National Police Agency’s lost-property system. You can search items handed to participating police stations, airports, transit facilities and other institutions. The site also accepts online loss reports after account registration, but visitors may find an in-person police report easier when an embassy needs formal paperwork.
Search more than once. An item may remain at the station, hotel, store or terminal for a period before appearing in the police system. Korean listings may describe a foreign passport simply as 여권 (passport), 외국 여권 (foreign passport) or by color and nationality.
If a listing looks like yours, call the listed storage location before traveling. Quote the management number and ask what proof of identity is acceptable when the passport itself is the missing ID.
Contact your embassy or consulate—not someone else’s
Only your country can tell you which replacement document it will issue. Use the official website of your government or the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Foreign Missions in the Republic of Korea directory to find contact details. Avoid sponsored search results, unofficial visa agencies and social-media accounts requesting passport data or payment.
When calling, say that you are a visitor in Korea, that the original passport is unavailable, and when you are scheduled to travel. Ask these questions:
- Must I appear in person, and is an appointment required?
- Do I need a Korean police report?
- How many passport photos are required, and what size?
- Which alternative identity documents or digital copies are accepted?
- What document can be issued: emergency passport, temporary travel document or full passport?
- What is the fee and which payment methods are accepted?
- How long does processing usually take in my case?
- Can the document be used for my transit country and next destination?
Do not assume every embassy has a public counter every weekday. Some countries cover Korea from a regional mission, require appointments or provide emergency service only for imminent travel.
Prepare one replacement-document folder
The exact requirements vary, but preparing the following can reduce repeat trips:
- Original Korean police loss or theft report
- Passport copy, scan or clear phone photo
- Passport number, issue date, expiry date and issuing authority
- Another photo ID, if available
- Recent passport photographs in the format required by your country
- Flight itinerary and evidence of urgent travel
- Korean accommodation address and contact number
- Embassy application and declaration forms
- Payment method accepted by the embassy
- Immigration or entry record documents if requested
Keep digital copies offline as well as in secure cloud storage. If mobile service is unreliable, use the setup advice in our Korea SIM and eSIM guide.
Korean immigration and proof of entry
A replacement passport does not automatically reproduce the entry evidence connected to the lost document. Your embassy, airline or departure airport may ask you to confirm your immigration record. Call the Korea Immigration Contact Center at 1345 from within Korea. Hi Korea also lists overseas contact numbers, including +82-2-1345.
Explain your nationality, entry date, arrival airport, original passport number if known, current location and planned departure. Ask whether you need an immigration certificate, proof of entry or a visit to an immigration office. Requirements can differ according to status and the replacement document, so do not rely on an old forum post.
Complete this check before airport day. Arriving early cannot compensate for a document that should have been issued by another office.
Flights, transit airports and onward visas
The replacement document solves only one layer of the journey. The airline must accept it, any transit country must permit it, and the destination must recognize it. A visa or electronic travel authorization tied to the lost passport number may no longer match.
- Ask the embassy for the exact document name, number and validity.
- Call the operating airline—not only the ticket seller—and request a document check.
- Check every transit country, even when you do not plan to leave the airport.
- Ask the destination authority whether an existing visa or authorization must be transferred or reissued.
- Get written confirmation where possible and record the agent’s name and time of call.
- Change the ticket only after you understand the realistic issuance timeline.
Separate tickets create extra risk because baggage collection may require formally entering the transit country. A direct flight home can be simpler than preserving a complicated itinerary, but confirm before paying a change fee.
What if you lose your passport outside Seoul?
Start with the nearest police station; you do not need to return to Seoul just to report the loss. Contact your embassy next and ask whether in-person attendance is required, whether a consular visit elsewhere is possible, and which documents can be prepared locally.
If you must travel to Seoul, leave time for police paperwork, passport photos, embassy security screening and unexpected closure. Use KTX or an intercity bus instead of booking an expensive same-day taxi across the country. Our KTX booking guide and intercity bus guide explain the options.
Ask your accommodation to write the embassy name and destination address in Korean. Check the building entrance and appointment instructions, because consular counters may not use the embassy’s main visitor door.
Nights, weekends and Korean public holidays
Police services remain available, but ordinary embassy counters may be closed. Complete the police report, secure your remaining identity and payment methods, and use the embassy’s official emergency contact if your situation meets its criteria. An emergency telephone line may provide guidance without issuing a document immediately.
Check both Korean holidays and your embassy’s national holidays. If a Monday flight depends on a Friday application, call before traveling to the counter. Keep accommodation flexible until the document and airline acceptance are confirmed.
If the passport, wallet and phone disappeared together
- Call 112 if theft or personal danger is involved.
- Use another device to lock or erase the phone through the manufacturer’s official service.
- Freeze payment cards through the issuer’s official app or telephone number.
- Change the password of the primary email account if the phone was unlocked.
- Tell the mobile carrier and protect the SIM or eSIM against account takeover.
- Ask the hotel to restrict room-key replacement and account information.
- Record every missing item in the police report and retain receipts for insurance.
For payment recovery, follow our foreign-card rescue guide and ATM guide. Never send a stranger a full passport scan or card image in exchange for a promised return.
Useful Korean phrases
- 여권을 잃어버렸어요. (Yeogwoneul ireobeoryeosseoyo.) — I lost my passport.
- 여권을 도난당한 것 같아요. — I think my passport was stolen.
- 분실 신고서를 발급받고 싶어요. — I would like a loss report.
- 마지막으로 본 장소는 여기예요. — This is the last place I saw it.
- 대사관에 제출할 경찰 확인서가 필요해요. — I need a police document for my embassy.
- 영어 통역을 부탁드립니다. — Please help me with English interpretation.
Show the sentence on screen instead of relying on pronunciation. Keep the original address and passport spelling visible when using the apps in our Korea translation-app guide.
Ten mistakes that cause longer delays
- Waiting too long for a venue to call back: set a deadline and begin formal reporting.
- Posting the passport data page publicly: share identifying details only with verified authorities.
- Using an unofficial embassy phone number: verify it on a government website.
- Assuming the police report permits travel: it is supporting evidence, not a passport.
- Booking a new flight before confirming processing time: issuance can vary.
- Ignoring transit rules: an emergency document may not work on the original route.
- Forgetting Korean immigration: ask 1345 whether proof of entry is required.
- Reusing a passport after reporting it lost: follow the issuing authority’s instructions.
- Arriving without photos or alternative ID: prepare a complete folder.
- Deleting receipts and reports: insurers and airlines may request evidence later.
Save-this lost passport checklist
- Search the last controlled places and contact their lost-and-found desks.
- Use LOST112 and note any matching item’s management number.
- Obtain a Korean police loss or theft report.
- Contact your own embassy through an official government website.
- Prepare passport copies, photos, alternative ID and itinerary.
- Call 1345 about entry records and Korean immigration requirements.
- Confirm the replacement document with the airline, transit countries and destination.
- Freeze missing cards and secure a lost phone.
- Keep every report, receipt and written confirmation.
- Allow extra time at the departure airport.
Official resources
- Korean National Police Agency LOST112: English lost-passport guidance
- Korean National Police Agency LOST112 search
- Hi Korea and Immigration Contact Center 1345
- Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs: foreign missions in Korea
- VISITKOREA: emergency numbers, 1330 and diplomatic missions
The simplest rule
For a lost passport in Korea, do not jump straight from searching to the airport. Build a chain of valid evidence: police report, official replacement document, Korean immigration confirmation when required, and airline approval for the exact route. Completing those steps in order is usually faster than fixing a document problem at check-in.